[Spelljammer Adventures In Space - Marketplace - D&D Beyond](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/sais/aag/the-rock-of-bral) ## Life on Bral The Rock of Bral is a bustling, dirty, port city filled with the most outlandish collection of traders, rogues, mercenaries, pirates, and thugs imaginable. Law and order are virtually nonexistent; there is no City Watch to keep order in the streets. It has a population of slightly over 12,000. There are two rules you need to remember when visiting Bral: one, mind your own business; and two, enough gold can fix anything. Bral is somewhat overcrowded, but there are few who are truly poor. Enough money flows through the town in the hands of merchants and adventurers to profit everyone. For example, there's always work to be had as a longshoreman down on the docks, and it's a rare day when a passing ship isn't taking on crew. There is money to be made in Bral. If courtesy is king in Bral, then gold is queen. Trade is the life of the city, the sole reason for its existence. People who do not work for a merchant house or trader company cater to those individuals who do. Of course, wherever gold is found, there are all the kinds of rogues you care to mention: con men, swords-for-hire, mountebanks and charlatans, and, of course, the honest thief. A typical stroll along Grand Street or Lamp Street is a breathless affair, as the milling crowds swirl and chatter endlessly in the cacophony of a hundred languages. Vendors hawk their wares, bold spacefarers strut down the street seeking taverns and less reputable places to squander their hard-earned gold, and entertainers and minstrels plead with passersby to pay a couple of coppers for a song. As you pass from the Low City to the Middle City the streets clear a bit. The taverns and ale houses of the lower regions are replaced with shops and inns of greater quality. From here [[Starhaven]] can be seen, rising above the noise and grime of the city, just beyond the green fields of the noble villas. The entire Rock is owned by the Crown, and the residents of Bral are merely tenants. The only exceptions are the 37 chartered landowners of the city, who have actually purchased their lands from the House Cozar. These are the nobles of the city. ### Law and Order The average lawbreaker has to go out of his or her way to be taken into custody on the Rock. Most citizens believe in policing themselves; tavern keepers will have a couple of stout lads nearby to break up fights, market vendors trust to their own eyes to spot potential shoplifters, and every person on the Rock is expected to have enough sense not to be taken in by a con or victimized by pickpockets. If a person discovers a very serious crime, such as arson or murder, he would go to the magistrate for the part of the city in which the crime occurred. If the magistrate or his representative agreed that the situation warranted the intervention of the crown, a small force of men known as the Magistrate's Watch would be dispatched to begin an investigation or to take the offender into custody. Please note that if murder, armed robbery, or other heinous crimes do not alarm you, there is no law that requires you to report the affair to the local magistrate. Many citizens of Bral simply do not bother, since the resulting investigations and testimonies would probably take up their valuable time for weeks. There is one notable exception to the rule: arson. A person who intentionally starts a fire on the Rock and risks fouling or depleting the atmosphere, as well as destroying the city, is deemed the worst kind of felon. A mage casting a fireball in the town would be extraordinarily lucky to escape a lynching on the spot. Even the inadvertent setting of a fire will probably be worth 10 years of hard labor for the idiot who started one. There are three magistrates for the city, one each for the Low City, the Middle City, and the High City. The sizes and compositions of the Magistrate's Watch vary from area to area. In the High City, a couple of gentlemen swordsmen and mages usually suffice, but in the Low City a tough force of 30 or more crossbowmen and halberdiers is on call. The Underside does not have its own magistrate, as all properties there are under direct military supervision. The magistrates are busy people and do not like being forced to act. A person who has committed a crime shocking enough to warrant a complaint has caused a lot of trouble for the magistrate, and his sentencing practices will reflect this fact. Some of the general guidelines the magistrates use in sentencing follow: | Offense | Punishment | | --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | | Burglary | One year of labor Underside | | Armed Robbery | Five years of labor Underside | | Piracy | Jettisoning | | Arson | Jettisoning | | Negligent Arson | 10 years of labor Underside | | Murder | Jettisoning | | Manslaughter | Five years of labor Underside | | Smuggling | Confiscation of goods and five years of labor Underside | | Treason | Impalement | | Common Theft | One year of labor Underside | | Second Offense | Five years of labor Underside | | Third offense | Jettisoning | | Provocation | 30 days of labor Underside. | Many of these sentences can be bought off with "fines", ranging from perhaps 5 gp for provocative behavior in the Low City to 500 gp for burglary in the High City. Bribing a magistrate is a matter best broached delicately, to say the least. ### Taxes and Fees Air on the Rock is free to citizens, but all ships pay an air tax when they dock. Generally this is calculated at 2 sp per ton of vessel. Docking with a fouled atmosphere incurs a 100 gp fine, and docking with a poisoned atmosphere incurs a 500 gp fine. Water service at the docks is available for the modest fee of 1 sp per 5 tons of vessel. Players wishing to dock in Bral will eventually have to speak to one of the Harbormasters and arrange to rent landing space—usually assessed at 1 sp per ton, per day. Longshoremen are paid 6 sp per day, with an additional 2 sp surcharge per worker, which goes into the guild's coffers. Captains refusing to pay their longshoremen will find that crucial parts of their cargoes mysteriously disappeared during unloading and they will also find that they will never be able to hire on help from the guild again. ## Modern History The Rock traces its roots back to roughly 170 years ago, when the eponymous Captain Bral established a pirate refuge here. The asteroid became a haven for thieves and cutthroats, and among them a few merchants and entrepreneurs set up shop. Even in a climate of lawlessness, the place evolved into something resembling a settlement of citizens. After Captain Bral’s death, the burgeoning city became known as Bral, in his honor, and its location as the Rock of Bral. For the next several decades, various pirate captains held sway in the city, but none of them demonstrated an interest in trying to take over sole leadership of the city. Eventually, the merchants and tavernkeepers who made their livings on the Rock became as numerous as the pirates and brigands who sought refuge there. One of the pirate captains, Cozar, sensed that times were changing on the Rock—that the days of lawlessness were coming to an end. Through a series of strategic alliances and shrewd business deals, he consolidated his political power and dubbed himself Prince Cozar, the Rock’s first overlord. Under Prince Cozar’s long reign, the city evolved from a pirate hideout into a major city, attracting profit-seekers, adventurers, and other more respectable types. Upon Cozar’s death, the rule of Bral passed to Frun, his son and heir. Frun was far from an able politician. Rather, he was a hedonist whose overindulgences compromised his authority. Business leaders and other influential types grabbed power where they could, and by the end of his reign, Frun was little more than a figurehead. His only notable accomplishments were the renovation of the royal palace and the construction of the arena that bears his name. Frun was succeeded by his son, Calar, whose bearing and tastes resembled those of his father but whose time as the overlord lasted only days. Calar died six years ago under mysterious circumstances shortly after taking the throne; his body was found floating in space just beyond the asteroid’s air envelope. Leadership of the Rock passed to Calar’s younger brother, Andru, who had a group of malcontents arrested and executed for the crime within days. Though his place on the throne is secure for now, [[Prince Andru]] is merely one player in a maze of political intrigue. He has a host of agents and forces loyal to him, but he must act with consideration, since he has opponents who would rather see Bral ruled by a more ineffectual leader or by a council that could more easily be influenced. Andru maintains his strong base of support because he is a serious and intelligent person—often likened to his grandfather, Prince Cozar, in this regard—and he isn’t easily intimidated. ## Ancient History The current population of the Rock has occupied the asteroid for only a small fraction of its inhabited history. The oldest and most superstitious Bralians insist that the city is destined to be razed by the return of some previous owner. So far, no one has appeared to press a claim. Expeditions into the caverns and tunnels beneath the Rock's surface have revealed both illithid and beholder artifacts, but no member of either race now admits to any past presence on the Rock. However, the evidence would seem to indicate that the mind flayers hadan outpost on the Rock about 800 years ago. The beholder artifacts are more recent; in many places supplanting the illithid constructions. Scholars have concluded that the mind flayers were exterminated by a powerful beholder nation which was in turn wiped out in the perpetual race wars of that evil kind. More recent dwarven excavations and construction have also been found in the tunnels. These ruins appear to be about four centuries old. Oddly enough, not a single dwarvish tomb or message has been left to memorialize these folk. Homes were found with pots still on the hearth, their meals unfinished. Forges had partially finished sword blades laid across their anvils, as though set down for only a moment. A clan of dwarves numbering at least 200 simply vanished without a trace. The dwarves were apparently the last inhabitants of the Rock for some time, although the elven navy occasionally stopped by to replenish air and water. No one else had permanently colonized the Rock until the pirate Bral founded his base here, 170 years ago. ## Locations ### Upper City #### ![[The Man O' War]] #### ![[Starhaven]] #### ![[The Royal Theatrical Company]] #### ![[Library of Spheres]] ### Middle City #### ![[Sidney's Spectacular Sundries]] #### ![[The Elven Forest]] #### ![[Holstoi and Gavich, Barristers]] #### ![[The Arena of Frun]] #### ![[The Raised Cup]] #### ![[The Edge]] #### ![[Elmandar's Starcharts]] #### ![[Frada's Provisioning]] #### ![[Morweg's Arms and Armor]] #### ![[Balic's Blades]] #### ![[The Great Market]] #### ![[Dredar's Mail and Arms]] #### ![[Royal Exchequer]] #### ![[Gamalon's Curios]] #### ![[The Bralian Mercer]] #### ![[The White Galleon]] #### ![[Town Apothecary]] #### ![[The Donjon]] #### ![[Barduk's Smithy]] #### ![[Yarnak's Dwarven Arms]] #### ![[Fine Armors of Bral]] #### ![[The Golden Helm]] #### ![[The Charging Bull]] ### Lower City #### ![[Krunz Kanonwerks]] #### ![[The Rockrat]] #### ![[Zada's Mounts and Harnesses]] #### ![[Master of the Docks]] #### ![[The Lesser Market]] #### ![[The Red House]] #### ![[Marshall's Smithy]] #### ![[Chetney's Carvings]] #### ![[The Sign of the Black Bull]] #### ![[Cap'n Gyudd's Nautical Goods]] #### ![[The Rampant Lion]] #### ![[Eirenfetz Warehouse]] #### ![[Nautical Charts of Bral]] #### ![[The Crooked Square]] #### ![[Saakharr's Exotic Mails]] #### ![[Royal Sailmakers of Bral]] #### ![[The Shipyards]] #### ![[The Ironworks]] #### ![[The Shipwright's Guildhall]] #### ![[Houwe's Ballistae and Catapaults]] #### ![[The Laughing Beholder]] #### ![[The Docking Caverns]] ### Underside #### ![[The Naval Base]] #### ![[Citadel]] #### ![[Prisoner Barracks]] ## People - [[Prince Andru]] - Monarch - [[Aric Cozar]] - Nephew of Prince - [[Ellana Cozar]] - Sister-in-law of Prince ## Factions ### Government #### ![[Prince Andru and His Court]] ##### Underbarons Four underbarons, each one equivalent to the master of a thieves’ guild, compete among themselves for greater shares of influence and income in the city. Despite their status as lords of criminal fiefdoms, the underbarons enjoy the prince’s tolerance, if only because each one’s existence serves as a check against the others. The businesses in any given area of the city operate under the protection of one of the underbarons. That service is paid for through the collection of “insurance” fees. The arrangement isn’t strictly extortion, because it’s common for an underbaron to reimburse clients who suffer losses because of a rival guild’s actions. The four current underbarons are as follows: **[[Ozamata Ku Marawata|Ozamata]].** This lawful evil human controls the docks and most of the Low City. **[[Meredin Sandyfoot]].** This neutral good halfling, headquartered in a neighborhood known as the Burrows, holds sway over craftspeople. **[[The Juggler]].** This chaotic good elf oversees a network of swindlers and minstrels. **[[The Unknowable One]].** Within the cavernous interior of the Rock dwells a mysterious underbaron who specializes in smuggling. #### ![[Council of the City]] #### ![[The Noble Council]] #### ![[Council of Captains]] #### ![[The Royal Navy of Bral]] #### ![[Army of Bral]] ### ![[Gaspar's Reclamations]] ### ![[Juggler's Folk]] ### ![[Red Masks]] ### ![[The Honored Mages' Guild of Bral]] ### ![[The Sindiath Line]] ### ![[Smith's Coster]] ### ![[Valkan's Legion]] ### ![[Mercanes]] ### ![[Xenotermination]] ### ![[The Pragmatic Order of Thought]] ### ![[The Tenth Pit]] ### ![[The Fireball Alliance]] ### ![[The Shipwrights' Guild]] ### ![[Halfling Thieves' Guild]] ### ![[The Watchers]] ### ![[The Long Fangs]] ### ![[Chainmen]] ### ![[The Dwarven Boarding Company]] ### ![[House Kullek]] ### ![[House Zudrik]] ### ![[House Daxault]] ### ![[Agamour's Platoon]] ### ![[The War-Drakes]] ### ![[The Golden Brotherhood]] ### ![[Forgemen]] ### ![[Courier Express]] ## Maps ![[03-001.rock-of-bral-splash.jpg]] ![[Rock-of-Bral-Map-Topside.jpg]] ![[Rock-of-Bral-Map-Underside.jpg]] ![[Rock of Bral - Old Map.pdf]] ![[Rock_of_Bral_OLD_MAP.png]] ![[rock_of_bral_combined.png]] ![[bral-official-topside.png]] ![[bral-homebrew-topside.png]] ![[bral-homebrew-underside.png]] ![[bral-official-full-numbered.jpg]] [OfmMap](https://map.fantasymaps.org/rock_of_bral_upper/1302.0277777777774/18.432956361681097/-0.006665072017369766/-0.006824136929026281)